The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, one-fifth of the world’s population will be older than 60 years, with roughly 115 million individuals affected by dementia.¹ These numbers do not account for the additional 16% to 20% of elderly individuals who are estimated to experience mild cognitive impairment, which can begin years before clinical presentation.² Despite this large public health concern, interventional strategies are limited, and timely identification of prodromal disease states requires improvement. To date, most therapies aim to protect or preserve at-risk neurons, and there are very few therapies that target the brain’s white matter, which makes up half of the brain and may be a critical site of prodromal disease.

世界卫生组织预测，到 2050 年，世界人口的五分之一将超过 60 岁，大约有 1.15 亿人患有痴呆症。 ¹这些数字并未考虑到另外 16% 至 20% 的老年人，他们估计患有轻度认知障碍，这种障碍可能在临床表现前数年就开始出现。 ²尽管存在这一重大公共卫生问题，但干预策略仍然有限，并且需要改进及时识别前驱疾病状态。迄今为止，大多数疗法旨在保护或保留高危神经元，而针对大脑白质的疗法很少，大脑白质占大脑的一半，可能是前驱疾病的关键部位。